The Ten Commandments of Good Design

Websites are the new shop fronts for businesses in the digital age. With this in mind, it is essential to design a website that optimizes your chances of success in a tough competitive environment. What makes a great website is a matter of opinion and users will have different reactions but there are some general principles. A leading German industrial designer called Dieter Rams inspired the world of design with his ten principles of good design and here they are:

Design that makes a product useful

Anybody who buys a product or buys into a product needs to be able to use it. It not only needs to be functional but must satisfy certain psychological and aesthetic elements. Good website design will emphasize the usefulness of a product and focus solely on this, disregarding anything that detracts from this.

Design that is innovative

A site can always progress and as technology offers new developments, it is important to stay up to speed and have a forward-thinking design. Creative design should develop alongside improving technology.

Design should make a product understandable

Design should be able to clarify the product’s structure and clearly demonstrate its function. In other words, design should allow for the product to be self-explanatory. For WordPress Hosting UK, visit https://www.igohost.co.uk/wordpress-hosting.php

Design is aesthetic

This goes hand in hand with the usefulness of a product because products are used every day and affect our psychological well-being. Something this important should be attractive and well-made. Only when things are well-made can they be beautiful.

A good design should not over-inflate the power, value or innovation of a product. It should not seek to manipulate with promises that cannot be kept as consumers want something that ‘does exactly what is says on the tin’.

Design should be unobtrusive

If a product is to fulfil a purpose, like a tool, then it is not a work of art or decorative. Design should therefore be kept to a minimum, restrained and neutral. This has the result that the user has room for bringing their self-expression to the product.

Design should be thorough to the last detail

Be accurate and don’t leave anything down to guess work. Treat the consumer with respect and offer the product with care and accuracy.

Design is lasting

Staying current is important but being trendy or fashionable runs the risk of looking out of date far too quickly. Avoid fashionable design to stand the test of time.

Design is minimalist

The old saying that less is more applies to good design as well. Focus the attention on the essential aspects and don’t get bogged down with non-essential information. Simple, pure and direct makes for a better user experience.

Be environmentally friendly

Design should make a contribution to preserving the environment in that it conserves resources, minimizes visual and physical pollution and maintains this throughout the life cycle of the product.